Colin Jost and Michael Che Want You to Stop Blaming Them for Trump

The SNL "Weekend Update" duo talk about their friendship, political correctness, and why a man in a penis costume is just like Donald Trump.

It’s the perfect bit for these times: Burger King introduces a Whopper with a black bun and “Weekend Update” anchor Colin Jost argues that if a Whopper can wear blackface, why can’t he? Co-host Michael Che rolls his eyes: “I begged you not to do that.”
By (sometimes) playing the character of everything that’s wrong with America, Jost is the unexpected foil to Che’s skeptical charm. Because, really, could there be a more appropriate fake news team for Trump’s America than a clueless white dude and an over-it black guy? We sat down with Jost and Che at 30 Rock on a rainy-ass Thursday in April.

GQ: When did you two first meet?

Michael Che: I don’t remember [exactly], but we knew each other from stand-up comedy. Like the circuit, in clubs...

Colin Jost: It must have been in New York.

Michael: In comedy you work with people so often that they just become familiar faces—it’s like a fraternity.

Are you guys actually real friends outside of work and comedy?

Colin: Definitely.

Michael: We were friends before I worked at SNL. In fact, Colin was the one that was like, “You should come in and guest-write on the show.”

In your duo, who’s Jay Z and who’s Kanye?

Colin: Whichever one I declare, they’ll be mad about.

Michael: I would say he’s Kanye because he takes like the creative risk a lot of times, whereas I’m like, “Uh, I don’t know...”

Colin: He’s got a laid-back cool that is like Jay Z.

It’s kind of ironic that the clean-cut white guy has a bigger chance of ruffling feathers with a joke.

Michael: That’s honest. There’s certain times where I’ll say...

Colin: “I don’t know, man.”

Michael: “I don’t know if you should say that. Maybe I’ll say it.”

Colin: And there’s also times where people will be pitching you to do a take on something, and you’re like, “Well, that’s too obvious...”

Right. It’s funnier and more unexpected coming from you instead of Che.

Michael: It’s weird doing a show on a Saturday, because we get the news after everybody had their way with it. We still have to find a way to get something fresh out of the story, but also keep the integrity of it. A lot of times the obvious take is so obvious it’s already been on Twitter, so we gotta find a new thing.

What’s been the biggest blowback you guys have had to deal with after a joke on “Weekend Update”?

Michael: There’s tons of stuff where you’re like, “God, I wish I could take that back.” The one that sticks out the most to me is the initial Cosby run—I wish it was a little bit more of a comedy take than a serious take. But when it first happened, nobody knew how to make a joke. It was a sad thing, and the audience was quiet and didn’t want to hear anything about it. And then after, like, 30 [accusers came forward], then it became comic. It was like watching a clown car, where you’re like, “Holy…this is still going?” In hindsight, I wish we were earlier to the funny part of it.

Do you think that people are too sensitive in 2017?

Michael: I don’t think that they’re too sensitive, but I think that people are too aware that their voice can make a change. They know “If I put my opinion out there and I get a hundred people to agree with me, we can maybe hit the lotto and get this motherfucker fired.”

Colin: But there are some people who are way too sensitive about things. If you’re not using the vocabulary that’s new that they’ve helped define, then you’re not on their team, even though you want to be. [And at the same time,] the fact that our president said on record, “You could just grab women by the pussy,” and a lot of people in America were like, “Yeah, it’s fine, that’s something that’s said…” There are people that are not sensitive or aware enough about other people and what that means.

People blamed outlets like SNL and GQ and others for giving Donald Trump too much attention during the election and humanizing or validating him. It seems like, as comedians, it’d be impossible to avoid Trump.

Colin: He had a hit TV show on NBC for 14 years! He was covered
by every major newspaper for 30 years. The idea that any one person humanized... He’s been the most human figure for decades. The reason he won is because he knows how to use the media and he’s a great communicator, whether you agree with the message or not.

Michael: Also, I don’t know who was on the fence about Trump politically and then saw him on our show in a Sia wig and was like, “That guy’s gotta be president.” We made him look ridiculous. I think people are just angry and lashing out. It’s part of the stages of grief?

Step three of Trump grieving is to point at “Weekend Update.”

Michael: Yeah, it’s our fault. There’s only one time I’ve removed someone from a stand-up show. During SantaCon, there was a drunk guy in the front row wearing a penis outfit.

Colin: You had him removed from the crowd and put onstage, right?

Michael: I had him removed from the crowd and into my dressing room. But you could only see his face—[the rest of him] was penis all over, and then he had like a Santa hat and a Santa coat. He sat right in the front and heckled everybody. So I had him removed because I couldn’t do a show that wasn’t about him—he was too distracting. I feel that way about Donald Trump. You can’t do comedy not about him.

Colin: You never go into a room, whether it’s a family thing or seeing old friends, and everybody is not talking about him.

Michael: He’s making decisions that affect people’s day-to-day life, and he’s constantly, constantly making some crazy announcement. It’s like, “Well, what are we supposed to talk about? The D train? Traffic?”

Colin: And we had Hillary on the show a couple weeks before Trump—Lorne would have happily had Hillary host, too, but only Trump was insane enough to agree to that.

Michael: Trump is the one guy that’s like, “Yeah, I’ll do 90 minutes of live comedy. Seems easy enough.”

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